William Fernyhough

Probably commissioned by Henry Bayly-Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge (1744-1812).

It was the 1st Earl, of the second creation, who commissioned the architects James Wyatt and Joseph Potter to design extensive renovations for Plas Newydd. In the present work we see the realisation of their scheme and a newly completed stable block too, which sits in the park like a Gothic altar screen. This was before later interventions which included a wing added for a chapel, a dividing wall conceived by the artist Rex Whistler which projects from the front of the house and the removal of the crenellations along the roof by the 6th Marquess in the 20th century. Some of the original symmetry depicted is now lost but the great beauty of the house, parkland setting and location can still be appreciated.

Thomas Agnew & Son, London, Valuation for Insurance of The Pictures and Drawings, The Property of the Most Honourable The Marquess of Anglesey, At Uxbridge House, St James Square, Plas Newydd, and 8 Lees Mews, 2^nd February 1910, at Uxbridge House, probably no. 62 (Bangor University Archives and Special Collections, PN/IX/3198);

Lofts & Warner, London, An Inventory and Valuation […] At Plas Newydd, Anglesey, 1948, possibly, p. 141, in the Silk Bedroom (Private Family Collection).

This rare and little known artist appears to have been a pupil of John Glover OWS 1767-1849 (see H. Mallalieu, The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists Up to 1920, London 1976, p.126).